Susanne Schulze, Sibille Merz, Anne Thier, Marie Tallarek, Franziska König, Greta Uhlenbrock, Matthias Nübling, Hans-Joachim Lincke, Michael A. Rapp, Jacob Spallek, Christine Holmberg
- Background The Covid-19 pandemic led to increased work-related strain and psychosocial burden in nurses worldwide, resulting in high prevalences of mental health problems. Nurses in long-term care facilities seem to be especially affected by the pandemic. Nevertheless, there are few findings indicating possible positive changes for health care workers. Therefore, we investigated which psychosocial burdens and potential positive aspects nurses working in long-term care facilities experience during the Covid-19 pandemic. Methods We conducted a mixed-methods study among nurses and nursing assistants working in nursing homes in Germany. The survey contained the third German version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ III). Using Welch's t-tests, we compared the COPSOQ results of our sample against a pre-pandemic reference group of geriatric nurses from Germany. Additionally, we conducted semi-structured interviews with geriatric nurses with a special focus on psychosocial stress, to reach a deeper understanding of theirBackground The Covid-19 pandemic led to increased work-related strain and psychosocial burden in nurses worldwide, resulting in high prevalences of mental health problems. Nurses in long-term care facilities seem to be especially affected by the pandemic. Nevertheless, there are few findings indicating possible positive changes for health care workers. Therefore, we investigated which psychosocial burdens and potential positive aspects nurses working in long-term care facilities experience during the Covid-19 pandemic. Methods We conducted a mixed-methods study among nurses and nursing assistants working in nursing homes in Germany. The survey contained the third German version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ III). Using Welch's t-tests, we compared the COPSOQ results of our sample against a pre-pandemic reference group of geriatric nurses from Germany. Additionally, we conducted semi-structured interviews with geriatric nurses with a special focus on psychosocial stress, to reach a deeper understanding of their experiences on work-related changes and burdens during the pandemic. Data were analysed using thematic coding (Braun and Clarke). Results Our survey sample (n = 177) differed significantly from the pre-pandemic reference group in 14 out of 31 COPSOQ scales. Almost all of these differences indicated negative changes. Our sample scored significantly worse regarding the scales 'quantitative demands', 'hiding emotions', 'work-privacy conflicts', 'role conflicts', 'quality of leadership', 'support at work', 'recognition', 'physical demands', 'intention to leave profession', 'burnout', 'presenteeism' and 'inability to relax'. The interviews (n = 15) revealed six main themes related to nurses' psychosocial stress: 'overall working conditions', 'concern for residents', 'management of relatives', 'inability to provide terminal care', 'tensions between being infected and infecting others' and 'technicisation of care'. 'Enhanced community cohesion' (interviews), 'meaning of work' and 'quantity of social relations' (COPSOQ III) were identified as positive effects of the pandemic. Conclusions Results clearly illustrate an aggravation of geriatric nurses' situation and psychosocial burden and only few positive changes due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Pre-existing hardships seem to have further deteriorated and new stressors added to nurses' strain. The perceived erosion of care, due to an overemphasis of the technical in relation to the social and emotional dimensions of care, seems to be especially burdensome to geriatric nurses.…
MetadatenAuthor details: | Susanne SchulzeORCiD, Sibille MerzORCiD, Anne ThierORCiD, Marie TallarekORCiDGND, Franziska KönigORCiD, Greta Uhlenbrock, Matthias Nübling, Hans-Joachim LinckeORCiDGND, Michael A. RappORCiDGND, Jacob SpallekORCiDGND, Christine HolmbergORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08333-3 |
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ISSN: | 1472-6963 |
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Pubmed ID: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35883124 |
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Title of parent work (English): | BMC health services research |
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Subtitle (English): | a cross-sectional study with quantitative and qualitative data |
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Publisher: | BMC |
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Place of publishing: | London |
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Publication type: | Article |
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Language: | English |
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Date of first publication: | 2022/07/26 |
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Publication year: | 2022 |
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Release date: | 2024/01/24 |
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Tag: | COPSOQ; Covid-19; Mixed-methods study; Nurses; Nursing home; Psychosocial burden |
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Volume: | 22 |
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Issue: | 1 |
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Article number: | 949 |
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Number of pages: | 13 |
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Funding institution: | MHB Open Access Publication Fund - German Research Association (DFG);; Faculty of Health Sciences; Projekt DEAL |
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Organizational units: | Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Strukturbereich Kognitionswissenschaften / Department Psychologie |
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DDC classification: | 1 Philosophie und Psychologie / 15 Psychologie / 150 Psychologie |
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Peer review: | Referiert |
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Publishing method: | Open Access / Gold Open-Access |
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| DOAJ gelistet |
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License (German): | CC-BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International |
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